sick male CT

[GuppyDude]

my male ct has been a bit ill for a week now and up untill now i didn't think anything of it, throgh in some salt, stress med and fed him. today i have noticed that his appitite is very weak, he had 1 pelet and im not even sure he swallowed. this is odd, as he userally will consume 7-12 pelets in a sitting. (hes a big boy) he lays at the bottom of his 1g bowl alot, which he normally does as there really isn't any entertainment, but his fins are all faned out and he has trouble coordinateing himself and he seems to lean up against the side of the bowl for support. he is quite pale in color and i think i see some white dots on his head and a little on his fins. iv added melafix after a water change just a lil while ago and i am really hopeing this will help him else im not going to sleep tonight, i just cant when one of my fish are sick . he does have a sand substrate, and besides that thats all there is in his bowl and he is 2 months short of a full year old. his water temp is fine, the water ph at my place is constant and hes never had any problems with it. i do water changes every other day (did a major cleaning yesterday) but there is a fowl smell in the water, ammonia checks out at 0 but perhaps my test kit is too old. im next course of action is to drain the water to half full so that he can conserve his energy, what do u guys think, i really need some help here. teh chems in the bowl are a mixture of stress med and condition, salt, and melafix. if there is any other info u guys need let me know asap.

 

[GuppyDude]

he seems to be doing a little bit better, haven't tryed feeding him quite yet and i haven't lowered the water lvl, throgh lack of a better opinion (or one at all) i think ill just leave him over night and c how it goes, ill have to do a water change in the morning

 

[GuppyDude]

ok the day after the last post here i fed my ct male and he ate some, he also seemed to be passing poo so i thoght, great atleast its nothing to bad. but now it seems he has worsened. i have moved him to a divided 10g tank alone with sand and java moss. i just added salt, melafix and a little stress med is still in there from prepareing the tank. he is not eating now and i haven't seen him pass any poo in the last couple days either. this could be because he hasn't eaten, or because there is something wrong with his gut, i really dont know. he has lost alot of color and spends most of his time at the top gulping air or at the bottom on his side resting with fins flared. im really hopeing to get this thing cleared up, this is probably the sickest hes been since iv had him. im got good water airation in the 10g as well and im doing daily water changes of 50%, water temp at 70-80 degrees (F). i know this is a bit vauge because these symptoms can be associated with a number of diseases, but i would really like a response.

i was very surprised that i didn't receive any help when this was first posted as it is an emergency. iv helped u guys out and commented on ur problems but wheres my help?

 

[Joby]

sorry your guy is having so much trouble

I can't think of anything else you can do as you seem to have it covered. Perhaps moving him to the divided stressed him out which made him look worse again.

Have you tried giving him peas? 7-12 pellets sound a lot to me but I don't know how big the ones are you are feeding him. Bio gold say 2-3 each feeding and I never go over that although I know my guys would love to have more It could just be plain old constipation that he has in which case a dose of peas could help

I really hope he recovers and that maybe someone else can help you

 

[BettaMomma]

Hi!
Sorry you haven't gotten any responses to this yet - that is quite surprising for this forum.

Anyway.... My first inclination is that he probably has some sort of bacterial infection.
Do you feed him any live foods at all?

It's great that you have him in an aerated tank - BUT, what's on the other side of the tank? If there's a fish on the other side, you should take him back out and get him into a hospital tank, as whatever he has will be passed on to the other fish most likely.

I'd put him back into the smaller bowl (in sparkly clean, warm water - like 80 degrees, if you can) and pick up a small air stone. Make sure the air flow is very minimal in the bowl. (meds take oxygen out of the air - the airstone makes it easier for them to be comfy during medication).

For meds, if he was my fish, here's what I would do:
I'd start him on Maracide (it sounds like he's got ick - the white spots)
I'd also get him on some Maracyn.
For the size of tank he's in, you'll need to divide out your tablets.

Let me know if you have questions on the meds or anything else - I've gone thru medicating my bettas for just about everything, unfortunately.

Good luck!

 

[SRC]

I may be reading it wrong..but I don't see where he says the fish has white spots...only a loss of colour.

If the fish is gasping at the surface, has lost his appetite, doesn't move around alot, and his gills appear to be flapped open (could be swollen instead, but really just "appear" like they are stuck open) then he probably has Gill Disease...

Maracyn Tablets: (Fresh Water)

Broad-spectrum, nontoxic antibiotic tablets used to treat the following: Body fungus, (white grayish material covering most of the body), Fin and Tail Rot (split, ragged and deteriorating fin and/or tail), Popeye (protruding eyes, may be cloudy or hazy), Gill Disease (swollen, discolored gills, gasping for air and a decrease in activity), and secondary infections.

Dosage per Gallon: Perform a 100% water change. Dissolve 1 tablet in 10 teaspoons of water. Add 1 teaspoon of concentrate per gallon. Add 1 teaspoon daily of the concentrate mixture.

http/www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/hdgilld.htm
http/badmanstropicalfish.com/meds/medication5a.html
http/www.fishdoc.co.uk/disease/gill%20disease.htm

Hope these help.

 

[BettaMomma]

he is quite pale in color and i think i see some white dots on his head and a little on his fins.

That's where I saw the white spots comment in the original post.

Hmm....
as far as gasping for air at the surface - I'd have to agree that it's probably gill problems. it could be from a parasitic infection. That would also be taken care of with Maracide.

So I'd still recommend Maracide and Maracyn.

Good luck!

 

[Texaswoman]

I second that treatment. Definately Maracyn, but I've used only Maracyn2 on my fish. Sorry you didn't get any responses. That sucks on all of us here

 

[GuppyDude]

there is not any fish on the other side of the divider, i thoght that throgh, didn't want to stress him out any more than he alredy was. i had him in a bowl originally but he is very messy and the ammonia just over 24 hourse time got out of controlle even with meds, thats the reasoning behind the big 10g. i got him to eat a couple pellets last night before bed, i feed him betta bites which are pretty small but ur probably right, he is a fat fella. and with the peas, how do i get him to eat those if he wont eat his old food? im going to do another water change shortly, ill try to find some other meds asap but all iv got on hand at present is melafix which would take care of bacteria but im not sure its quite strong enogh. thanx for te help guys

 

[GuppyDude]

bad news guys, he didn't make it, at 9:00pm yesterday he died. he spent most of his final hours suckking air at teh surface, he was visably exhausted and didn't seem to be able to stay down long enogh to rest before heading back up. my conclusion is that it was a parasitic gill infection of some kind as it was hard for him to take in oxygen and he also had trouble eating, yet he had an appitite. i feal really bad now about teh whole thing, i thoght he was getting better, i thoght he was going to make it, but i guess it was just his time. he was my first and last 40 dollar fish, and iv still got his picture posted up on my cork board so that i dont forget him. i kind of feal like a jerk for not doing more, for not knowing what was wrong with him untill it was way to late. but he died in his favorite pose, all flared out and ready to kick ass. thats how ill remember him.

 

[BettaMomma]

I'm terribly sorry.
If you are as attached to your fish as I am, saying goodbye to them is never an easy thing.

He's in a better place now, where there is no disease, plenty of food and no other fish to pick on him.

Again, I'm so sorry for your loss.

 

[uabassoon]

I'm sorry to hear about your betta passing, he sounded like a really tough guy and he fought hard to get better. RIP big guy.

 

[Joby]

Sorry to hear he didn't make it

 

[GuppyDude]

thanx guys, im gunna miss him.